Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the generation of electrical energy from solar energy for applications such as powering electric vehicles by inductive coupling. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multiple layer solar energy harvesting composition and method used to form a solar energy harvesting strip along a road surface that allows passing electric vehicles to be powered by an inductive coupling thereto. Further, the present invention relates to a solar energy harvesting buckyball. Still further, the present invention relates to an inductive coupling device. Even further, the present invention relates to a vehicle chassis for storing electrical energy. Additionally, the present invention relates to an atmospheric intake hydrogen motor. Also, the present invention relates to an electrical energy generating tire. Further, the present invention relates to a mechanical energy harvesting device.
Description of the Related Art
As expanding energy use and environmental concerns have become of greater importance, interest has grown in available energy sources that are alternatives to fossil fuels, hydroelectric power and nuclear power. In today's alternate energy market, there are a number of different alternative energy systems being used. There are solar cells, known in the industry as photovoltaic cells, wind turbines which generate electricity using electrical generators driven by blades that catch the wind, solar furnaces which generate electricity using electrical generators driven by steam that is produced by catching and magnifying heat from the sun, hydrogen fuel cells which derive hydrogen from gasoline or methane, straight hydrogen motors for vehicles which burn hydrogen that is stored thereon, and electric cars which rely on batteries to power them. All of these technologies have significant hurdles to overcome.
A significant problem with solar cell technology is that large areas of land are needed to establish solar fields with a high enough yield to be practical. Solar cells have been improved over the years to be more effective at converting sunlight into electricity, but even the best solar cells are only about 20% efficient at conversion. Further, solar cells have limited wave length efficiency and on cloudy or rainy days, there is little or no generation of electricity. This means that in order to compete with other methods of electrical generation, large numbers of solar arrays must be directed at the sun during the daylight hours. It is very expensive to build these arrays and they require extensive amounts of land.
Like solar energy, wind fields are constructed to take advantage of a natural process to generate electricity. The disadvantages of wind generation are the amount of land required, costs of construction, and inconsistent nature of wind. These disadvantages all add up to, as with solar cell technology, relying on natural processes that are undependable.
Solar furnaces also rely on the sun to fuel them. At night and on cloudy days they become ineffective. Thus the generation of electricity during a rainstorm becomes substantially impossible. As with solar energy and wind fields, solar furnaces are inefficient because they only generate energy for a part of a day.
Much has been written about the conversion of vehicles to burn hydrogen or other natural gases to help curb the use of oil. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are now being constructed by every major car manufacturer. Hydrogen's major drawbacks are production and storage. In a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle the range is only about 90 miles at best. Hydrogen fuel cells require hydrogen which when produced generates greenhouse gases. Additionally, storing hydrogen for consumption on a vehicle is complicated due to the nature of hydrogen in its gaseous state. Thus, liquefying hydrogen creates the problem of putting cold storage tanks in vehicles which would vastly increase the cost of the vehicle. Also, a cold storage tank would occupy a significant amount of space within a vehicle so as to store enough hydrogen to get near the number of miles per tank the average car gets now.
Electric vehicles which rely solely on batteries to power them suffer from problems such as limited range, and this has forced most auto producers to abandon the purely electric car as an alternative to the internal combustion engine. Even when electric vehicles are coupled with solar cell technology, most solar cells are inefficient because of a number of limiting factors, including wave refraction and reflection, weather problems, and so forth, and therefore fall short of delivering enough energy. Hybrid cars combine an internal combustion engine with a generator, electric motors and batteries. However, such cars still produce greenhouse gases, and other harmful pollutants.
In addition to the growing interest in alternative energy sources, interest is growing in an energy economy of increased efficiency. In a conventional energy economy, an open loop consumption process is practiced. In the open loop energy consumption process energy is purchased as it is utilized from a centralized energy system. However, the open loop system is inefficient as the energy consumer never generates and adds energy to the system. On the other hand, in a closed loop consumption process, the inefficiencies of the open loop system can be avoided by having the consumer generate and add energy to the energy system. By way of example, in the context of vehicles, if 20 million of the 100 million vehicles in the U.S. operated to supplement one hour of electricity to the centralized energy system, that would total 20 million hours a day of usable electricity.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved means to generate energy where the generated energy could be used for a vehicle. Additionally, a need exists for a system that allows for a practical closed loop energy consumption process.